Exactly What It Says on the Tin.

I've been finding myself seriously considering trying my hand at fan fiction, but while I won't give my age, I can't help but wonder if I might be too old for it.

So I asking you guys when you think a person is too old to write fan fiction.

It's a thought thats been on my mind for a while, especially since I'd hate to have to give up what I've started when it's barely off the ground.

Plus, I am thinking of being a actual writer(no ideas yet) so I feel like this would be good practice.

You are too old for it when you really feel too old for it. Look into yourself, the answer is there.

I like that.

Considering I'm only getting started, I don't really feel that old yet.

That helps a-lot.

You are a good cheese based french tyrant.

Curses, I helped another human being! Why do I keep doing that?

In the past, people made Fan Fiction of their religions. Many are considered classics nowadays.

So, basically, what Napoleon said.

4srs?

I'm not quite sure how fanfiction specifically plays into it. Neil Gaiman is cheerily writing fanfiction in his fifties (and it is awesome), and there is at least one writer who started a story when they were in their mid teens, only finishing it in their forties.

On the other hand, there is some really hackneyed published "original" fiction out there written by teenagers, which is pretty embarrassing to read.

You are never too old to write fanfiction, but you eventually do get too experienced to keep writing shitty fiction (assuming this "writing" thing is something that you do regularly). A lot of the time this means that you come up with your own ideas and settings and leave behind the realms of other people's work. For some people, it just means that you try harder to make something original out of the already-established. It has very little to do with age.

tl;dr version: Write what you want to write, and when you don't want to write it anymore, then don't.

You're never too old to write fanfiction. Fanfiction is just writing. As said before, you may eventually want to write your own original fiction, but that doesn't mean you have to stop writing fanfiction.

Huh. I never thought of it that way.

That completely changes everything.

Thank you all. When I write the worst crap that ever existed, I'll be sure to blame all of you.

edited 12th Aug '12 4:54:00 PM by HandsomeRob

"When I became a man I put away childish things, including the desire to be very grown up"

You're never to old.

I write both fanfics and original fiction, and I'm decently older than the average fanfiction author. I want to write a book, but it's hard to get it done exactly as I want it. However, I'm not giving up even if it takes a few decades. Meanwhile, I'm writing fanfiction for two purposes: It's excellent writing practice, and it's great fun. I've even written that down on my troper page.

Never let age be in the way of fun. The older you get, the more you realise the truth of that.

I'm considering writing original fiction, but find that many of my ideas are of the It's Been Done variety, so at some point I kinda took a 8 month break from fanfics, but I've been writing fanfics for a long time. I think most people stop writing fanfics when they get a job anyway.

If you enjoy it, you're never too old. In fact, being older than a teen (which I presume you are) probably means you will avert writing emo shipping stuff and horrible trollfic parodies.

I had my first job before I started writing fanfics... Granted, it was just a summer job, but still.

We can only hope, Beary.

I've seen some pretty good fics from authors old enough to be parents, so I'd say never.

Technically speaking, most teenagers are old enough to be parents. D:

Although, given some of the fanfics I've seen, I hope that some of those writers never reproduce.

I think someone said you are too old to write fanfics if you can't admit to writing them to one to people around you.

I think you are too old to write fanfics when you grow disillusioned to your primary fandom, I don't know.

edited 14th Aug '12 7:37:31 AM by dRoy

To quote C. S. Lewis on the subject of maturity,

Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

See post #9.

Epic ninja.

At least he included the full quote.

But seriously, the only time you're too old to write fanfic is when you feel like you're too old for it, and that's totally up to you. If you feel like you want to write it, go for it. It's fun, and like you said it can be great practice for writing original works and if you put the effort in it can totally be worth reading.

When you've got too much arthritis in your fingers to work the keys and can't find anyone who'll take dictation.

More seriously, I was nearing thirty when I started my first fanfic. *shrug* If you've got an idea that won't piss off and go away, write it down. Odds are that if the idea is that persistent, then at least someone will be entertained, and if that happens, then your goal in writing whatever it is has been achieved. Which is often the sign of a good day

Shoot, you're right. DANG YOU SLOW INTERNET

I would have posted the full quote anyways, though.

Thread hop: When the arthritis fuses your fingers into useless, brittle claws.

Alternatively, when you no longer derive joy from posting bafflingly grotesque pony porn on the Internet.

either when the fandom you write for dies, fanfiction ceases existence, or you drop dead with your face on the keyboard.

Why would you only have one fandom to write for? While I've not written a lot of (complete) fics, there's only one fandom I've written more than one fic for...

Also, dying doesn't make you too old to write fanfics. It makes you too dead to write fanfics.